Shinto music is the ceremonial and festive music of , the native religion of Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. Its origin myth

Origin myth

An origin myth is a myth that purports to describe the origin of some feature of the natural or social world. One type of origin myth is the cosmogonic myth, which describes the creation of the world...

 is the erotic dance of Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto which lured Amaterasu

Amaterasu

, or is apart of the Japanese myth cycle and also a major deity of the Shinto religion. She is the goddess of the sun, but also of the universe. the name Amaterasu derived from Amateru meaning "shining in heaven." The meaning of her whole name, Amaterasu-ōmikami, is "the great August kami who...

 from her cave.

Kagura

or 'entertainment of the gods

Kami

is the Japanese word for the spirits, natural forces, or essence in the Shinto faith. Although the word is sometimes translated as "god" or "deity", some Shinto scholars argue that such a translation can cause a misunderstanding of the term...

' includes music, dance and poetry and comprises mi-kagura of the court, o-kagura of major shrines such as Ise Jingū, and village sato-kagura.

Forms

The repertoire includes eight forms that may be traced back to the eighth century: kagura-uta (kagura songs), azuma asobi (eastern entertainment), kume-uta (palace guard songs) ō-uta (big songs), onaibi-uta (night duty songs), ruika (funeral songs), ta-uta (field songs), and yamato-uta (Yamato

Yamato

Yamato was originally the area around today's Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture of Japan. Later the term was used as the name of the province and also as an ancient name of Japan...

 songs).

Instruments

Instruments include the , , , , , and clappers. In local festivals the , , and may also be found.

See also

• Kagura
  Kagura
  - Fictional characters :*Kagura Tsuchimiya, the protagonist of Ga-rei*Kagura, an InuYasha character*Kagura Sohma , a Fruits Basket character*Kagura, an Azumanga Daioh character*Ten'nōzu Kagura, a Speed Grapher character...
  
  
• Gagaku
  Gagaku
  Gagaku is a type of Japanese classical music that has been performed at the Imperial Court in Kyoto for several centuries. It consists of three primary repertoires:#Native Shinto religious music and folk songs and dance, called kuniburi no utamai...
  
  
• Dengaku
  Dengaku
  Dengaku Dengaku Dengaku (田楽）were rustic Japanese celebrations that can be classified into two types: dengaku that developed as a musical accompaniment to rice planting observances and the dengaku dances that developed in conjunction with sangaku. The dengaku celebrated for rice planting was...
  
  
• Matsuri
• Traditional Japanese musical instruments
  Traditional Japanese musical instruments
  Traditional Japanese musical instruments comprise a wide range of string, wind, and percussion instruments.-Plucked:*Biwa - pear-shaped lute*Ichigenkin - one-string zither*Koto - long zither*Junanagen - 17-stringed zither...